Matt Gardner

Biography

Matt Gardner was hired as an Assistant Coach by Todd Whitting on June 18, 2025 with the 2026 season the first with the Houston Cougars. Gardner, who will serve as the pitching coach for the Cougars, boasts four trips to Omaha with Texas Tech and eight NCAA appearances with the Red Raiders. Gardner comes to Houston after 12 successful seasons at Texas Tech which included four College World Series appearances and 37 MLB Draft picks under his tutelage. Gardner has overseen pitching staffs and has also worked with catchers and outfielders during his time in Lubbock. Gardner guided the Red Raiders pitching staff to unprecedented heights when they set a school record for pitchers selected in the MLB draft in 2015 with five, set another record in 2016 with six, and again in 2018 with seven. In 2021, five Red Raider pitchers were drafted and four more in 2022. Sixteen Red Raider pitchers were taken in the first eight rounds over the last seven years in Matt Withrow, Corey Taylor, Dominic Moreno, Ryan Moseley, Parker Mushinski, Steven Gingery, Caleb Kilian, Clayton Beeter, Bryce Bonnin, Mason Montogemery, Ryan Sublette, Hunter Dobbins, Patrick Monteverde, Andrew Morris, Brandon Birdsell and Chase Hampton. The Red Raiders posted 45-win seasons for four consecutive years from 2016-19, combining for 183 victories over that span which is the most for Tech since 1995-98. After Gardner's promotion, Tech continued elevating the trajectory of the program by making its first-ever back-to-back